


Coffee Shop

by paox



Series: useless saboace [7]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Oneshot, Panic Attacks, ace is concerned, everything hurts and i am sad, poor kids...............
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 21:06:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13667283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paox/pseuds/paox
Summary: In which Sabo is stressed and overworked and Ace just wants him to be okay, but nothing is really okay at all.





	Coffee Shop

**Author's Note:**

> :)))))) im dyin scoob

Ace places the same order as he always does - black coffee and a chicken and bacon sandwich, toasted. Sabo’s the only one behind the counter today. And no wonder; business is slow. Ace is the only one who’s come through the door to order something since he got here, and there’s only one other customer here, sitting in front of the window and reading a paper. 

Ace watches as Sabo drops the same coffee cup twice before realising that it’s the wrong size. Then he gets the right one but overfills it, and then accidentally grabs an apron left on the side to wipe it up instead of a cloth. Sabo realises his mistake and curses, going to grab a proper cloth but knocking the overly filled cup over as he goes. The hot coffee sloshes onto the floor and over his arm and he curses loudly, dropping the apron to clutch the area where he must have burned himself. “ _ Fuck _ !”

“You okay?” Ace stands up without meaning to. “One sec, I’ll grab some towels from the bathroom.”

Sabo’s swearing obviously carried. The man sitting in the window seat scowls, standing up to leave without throwing away the empty coffee cup on his table. Sabo looks devastated, work clothes soaked with coffee, standing in a puddle of the stuff. The door closes behind the customer, leaving just Ace and Sabo, and Ace opens the stile and slips behind the counter, arms filled with paper towels. He puts them on the sideboard as he approaches. 

“Let me see your arm for a minute. It wasn’t too hot, was it?”

Sabo blinks, still staring after the man. “I…”

“Sabo? Sabo, look at me.”

Sabo’s eyes flit up to meet Ace’s. They’re bloodshot, ringed with darkness like bruising. “Yeah…?”

“It’s fine. All of this is fine. You…” Ace trails off.

Sabo looks utterly wrecked. Maybe he got another call from his parents. Maybe he’s bogged down and stressed with school work. Maybe it’s both. Either way, it looks like he’s at the end of his tether and he hasn’t slept in at least three days and concern washes up inside of Ace. He can’t carry on working in a state like this. Ace isn’t going to let him.

“Come on - sit down.” Sabo doesn’t protest as Ace leads him to a chair away from the counter, pushing him into it. Ace strides to the door and turns the latch up, flipping over the sign so it reads, ‘CLOSED’, and then moves back to Sabo, sitting across from him. “Show me your arm.” 

Sabo obeys, looking slightly dazed. “I’m sorry. I-”

“Don’t be sorry - fuck. That coffee must have been hot. One sec.”

Ace stands up, moves to rummage back behind the counter and finds out where the ice for the frappes is. He wraps a handful in a dishcloth and brings it back, pressing it against the burnt area. Sabo winces but doesn’t push him away. The coffee on his shirt is drying a dull, greyish-brown colour. 

“You’ve got to stop doing this to yourself,” Ace murmurs after a few seconds. “What happened?”

“My… my dad called again. Last night. Told me that he’s disappointed and I should be ashamed and I’m useless and everything, same as always, but…” Sabo’s shoulders curl in on themselves. He doesn’t meet Ace’s eyes. “I guess… it got to me, this time. I was tired. Argued with Koala, and I was stressed, and...it got to me,” he says again, helplessly. “I didn’t sleep.”

“When was the last time you slept? Or ate something, for that matter?” 

Sabo shrugs evasively. “I don’t know. I have to open up again-”

“No, you don’t. No way in hell am I letting you work like this. I’m going to clean up and make sure that you’re really going to be okay and then you’re coming back to my place with me to sleep for a week. Got it?”

“But-”

“No buts.”

“But the cafe-”

“Sabo.” Sabo stops, looking at Ace. Ace takes a deep breath. “Stop. You can’t keep living like this. You can’t keep doing this and expecting me to be fine with it. If you can’t take care of yourself, I’m going to do it. And you can’t stop me.”

Sabo looks away, at the table between them. The makeshift ice pack slips off his arm and to the floor. For a moment, Ace thinks he’s going to hit him. Then, slowly, Sabo shakes his head. “I can’t do this.”

“Sabo?” Ace slouches, trying to see his face. “Sabo? Are you okay?”

Sabo shakes his head again. His voice is choked up. “I can’t do this. I can’t-”

He slumps, elbows on the table, putting his head in his hands. His shoulders are jerking, heaving with sobs, and he can’t seem to get words out around the force of his own grief. Ace brings his chair around the table and puts his arms around him, chin on top of his head, taking the brunt of his weight so Sabo himself doesn’t have to hold himself up. Sabo turns towards his chest and cries, openly, whole body wracked with sobs as though he can’t hold them back. Ace squeezes his eyes shut and bears it, ignoring the pain hitting him with every broken little noise that Sabo makes, just trying to comfort the distraught student.

“I- I just-”

“I know, I know, I promise it’s gonna be fine.” Ace holds him closer. “It’s all gonna be okay. I promise.”

Sabo wipes at his own eyes before dissolving into panicked, gasping sobs again. “Ace, what am I going to  _ do _ ?!”

“I don’t know, but… but I’m going to be here for you. Through it all. Just  _ let me in _ .” 

Sabo doesn’t answer - he doesn’t seem able to - and Ace just clutches him tighter, feeling wetness on the front of his sweatshirt. He hates himself for not predicting this. Sabo has been going through so, so much. At some point, he was going to crack. Ace just wishes he could have been there on the nights when Sabo obviously didn’t sleep, could have held his hand when his father was on the phone - or, better still, told the bastard to fuck off. He feels so helpless because until Sabo lets himself rely on him, Ace has to sit back and watch him crumble. 

Hands trembling, Sabo reaches up and slips his arms shakily around Ace’s neck, face pressed into the hollow between neck and shoulder, and breaks down. 


End file.
